Ahmedabad court accepts Rahul Gandhi's bail plea in defamation case, next hearing on Dec 7

Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad court on Friday accepted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's bail plea in connection with the defamation case filed against him for calling Union Home Minister Amit Shah a "murder accused" at an election rally in Jabalpur.

The matter will now be taken up by the court on December 7.

The Congress Waynad MP had come to Ahmedabad for appearing in local courts in connection with two criminal defamation suits filed against him.

After his arrival at the Ahmedabad airport, he went straight to city circuit house for a meeting with state Congress leaders.

Bail plea of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accepted by a Gujarat court in the defamation case for calling Home Minister Amit Shah a "murder accused", at an election rally in Jabalpur. Next date of hearing on 7th December. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/8XIaoZ328L — ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2019

He then deposed before the Metropolitan Court in the Ghee Kanta area of the city around 2:30 pm.

On his way to circuit house, Gandhi was greeted by NSUI and Congress workers at various points. Gandhi briefly alighted from his vehicle near Shahibaug to meet NSUI leaders.

One of the criminal defamation suits was filed against Rahul Gandhi for calling Union Home Minister Amit Shah a "murder accused".

The other one is for claiming that Ahmedabad District Cooperative bank, in which Shah is a director, was involved in a scam of swapping scrapped notes of Rs 750 crore with valid currency within five days of demonetisation in 2016.

Since the next date of hearing was fixed on October 11 in both the cases by respective magistrates during the last hearings, Gandhi arrived to attend court proceedings.

In July, the Congress leader appeared before a magistrate's court in connection with the defamation suit filed by the ADC Bank and pleaded not guilty.

In May, another metropolitan magistrate had issued summons seeking Gandhi's appearance in a defamation suit filed by BJP corporator Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt for calling Shah a "murder accused" at an election rally in Jabalpur.

Gandhi's jibe was slanderous as Shah was acquitted in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case in 2015, the complainant said.

On Thursday, the Wayanad Lok Sabha MP had appeared before a court in Surat in yet another defamation case and pleaded not guilty.

This case is over his remark "why do all thieves share the Modi surname"? made during a poll rally ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in April.

The complaint, in this case, is BJP legislator from Surat-West, Purnesh Modi.